"This is absolutely amazing!" Remi flitted from one rchant stall to the next, lina barely able to catch up with her. Yesterday, the elf girl had remained inside the inn all day, too worried about humans reacting to her elven ears to go out. When lina found that out in the evening, she promised to take Remi shopping the next day.
What lina had not anticipated was the fact that the elf would have so little self-control. She ran after Remi, grabbing her by the hand. "Calm down. These things won't just suddenly disappear."
"I understand that, but look at all these treasures—clothes and spices, fabrics of every color, and jewelry with rarest gems," Remi said, eyes sparkling in wonder. She was dressed in casual clothes—a long, airy skirt, lilac-colored blouse, and most importantly a matching headscarf to hide her long ears.
It was hard to tell how people in Pertia would react to an elf's presence. There was a slight possibility that they wouldn't think much about it. However, after seeing the innkeeper's reaction yesterday, lina decided that it was best not to test that theory.
"Those are not real gems, but rely glass replicas," lina said, and one of the nearby rchants deflated.
"Even so—they're still pretty," Remi said, admiring the faux jewelry.
"Remi, didn't we co here to buy you so new clothes?"
"Yes, but would it be so bad if I browsed around a little bit? Who knows, maybe you'll find sothing you like too? Either so nice dress or perhaps a rare cooking ingredient?" Remi said sagely, and lina had to agree with her. There was no rush since they were waiting for the carpenters to finish their job.
"Have you never been to a market like this?" lina asked, taking hold of Remi's hand so she wouldn't disappear in the dense sea of people.
"No. The few tis I've been to human cities have always ended rather… quickly," she said in a quiet whisper.
"They chased you out?"
"No. Well, not intentionally. Humans sward like crazy, all of them trying to touch or ask to perform so magic on them, cure their child, find their lover, and predict their future. I'm not even a mage—how am I supposed to do any of that stuff?"
"Well, be glad it didn't go the other way," lina noted, walking up to a stall that had various clothes draped on hangers or neatly folded up for viewing.
"From what I hear, humans are rarely aggressive towards elves anymore," Remi noted. The way humans treated elves was peculiar. They almost worshipped them like gods since so older elves were adept at all types of magic, including divination, healing, and rituals. lina herself had been skillful in most fields of magic, although her specialization was definitely evocation or magic usable in battle.
"So what did you want exactly?" lina asked, pointing towards the various colorful garnts. The excitent returned to Remi's face as she watched the colorful patterns of various skirts in awe.
"I'd like so more casual clothes. Like dresses or skirts. The one you wore the other day was really nice."
"Why didn't you just go to Etrian's shop?" lina asked curiously.
"And give him the satisfaction of telling how bad my fashion sense is and how I should have gone to him a long ti ago? No way!" Remi shook her head and lifted a colorful, pink flower skirt. The vendor, a pudgy woman with a knowing glint in her eyes, instantly worked her charms on the elf, offering her one garnt after the next. But since Remi looked like she was enjoying herself, lina left them and walked over to the next stall.
It also sold clothes, but these looked more suitable for work—aprons, gloves, waiter's outfits, sturdy carpenter's garb. For a mont, lina pondered whether she should be spending the ager coins that she had.
But I don't have to worry about food or shelter anymore since Master Gilbert is taking care of that. It's almost too convenient. Oh, what's the point of money if you don't spend it? I certainly need more than just three outfits.
In the end, lina decided to buy an outfit for her work in the bakery—a comfortable white blouse, light blue skirt, and dark blue apron. She also bought a full gardener's outfit with boots and thick gardening gloves. Satisfied with her purchases, she returned to Remi, who already had three different dresses selected and packed away in shopping bags. She was also holding a flowery pink dress in hand, separately from the others.
"lina, you have to try on this dress!" Remi flaunted it in front of her.
"No, I can't wear sothing like that," lina winced at the garnt in question.
Isn't that dress ant for children? There's no way I'd ever wear sothing so… girly.
"Why not? It'd suit you perfectly." The elf pressed it against lina's body, assessing the match with a critical eye.
"Indeed, young miss! You should try it on," the owner of the stall, an older woman with a grand hat on her head, said with an opportunistic smile. But lina shook her head.
"No, it doesn't suit at all. Besides, I already bought clothes for myself," she said, holding up the bag with her apron and gardening outfit.
"No, that's for work. You need so more casual clothes. There's no way I'm letting you walk out of here empty-handed when it's thanks to you that I managed to get my own clothes," Remi shook her head, then looked at the other dresses on display and took a dark green dress with long white sleeves and golden sash. "Maybe sothing more mature?"
The dress still felt a bit too fancy for her, but lina got a distinct feeling that Remi would not relent until she bought sothing. "Alright, yes. This one is better."
"Great! We'll go try it on," Remi cheerfully announced to the vendor, who nodded her head in approval. A mont later lina was shoved into one of the many dressing booths set up in the market. Begrudgingly, she took the dress and put it on.
"I'm ready," lina announced and Remi pulled the curtains apart. A gleeful smile rose on her lips.
"Oh, you look lovely! This mature look might suit you better," Remi said, pulling lina back to the vendor.
"Wait, let change back!"
"Nu-uh! Let everyone see what a beauty you are! Lady, how much for the dress?" Remi called out to the vendor.
"Normally it'd go for 90 silver coins, but I'll make an exception—75 silver coins," she announced.
That woman is clearly trying to swindle us. No way this dress costs that much.
"20 silver coins," lina stated flatly.
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The vendor narrowed her eyes on her. "20 coins? Are you trying to put out of business? 70 is the best I can offer."
"25."
"65."
"27."
"60 and I really can't go lower than that," the woman said stubbornly.
lina looked down at the dress as if in regret. "Such a sha—I really like this dress. But there's no way I can afford to pay 60 silver coins for it. I suppose I'll just have to make do with my old dress when I go to the party next week."
Remi opened her mouth, no doubt to ask what was this party lina was speaking about, but she shot her warning glance and the elf shut her mouth.
"Well… that's certainly an important occasion…" Vendor frowned, her conscience battling with her rcantile soul. "How about 50 silver coins?"
"Let's go back to the dressing booth, Remi," lina announced and turned to leave.
"45!"
lina kept walking.
"40, but this is as low as I can go."
lina turned back and walked over to the rchant, handing her the requested 40 silver coins from her pouch. "Thank you very much, kind lady!"
It wasn't the lowest price I could have gotten, but I don't want to gain infamy for my haggling skills. I got it down to a decent price at least.
"Good luck on your party," the woman grumbled—no doubt she had hoped to make quite the profit from the naive country girls—but accepted the coins nonetheless.
[New skill acquired: Gilded Tongue – Rank F]
[Gilded Tongue – Makes it more likely for rchants to lower their prices for you as well as allows you to sell items for a higher price.]
Oh, hello there, old friend. I'm sure you will co in useful in the future.
As lina and Remi stepped away from the stall, the elf pulled her closer and whispered, "How did you do that? She went down from 90 silver coins to 40. That's incredible."
"It never really cost that much to begin with. This dress might be nice, but it's not that special. I rely haggled her down to the normal price."
"Why didn't she just ask the normal price to begin with?" Remi cocked her head in confusion.
"Because a rchant will always try to get as much out of you as possible. Perhaps you don't feel it as much in Sunglow, since it's a small community and any swindling would quickly spread around. But in bigger cities, it is quite common," lina said in a whisper.
"I don't get why you'd try to cheat people out of their money. If you're selling stuff then you're already getting paid, right?"
"That's just the way humans are…"
"Surely not all humans are like that," Remi asked hopefully.
"No, of course not. There are good people as well, but it's hard to tell who these good people are."
I've been fooled more than once before.
"Okay, we bought so clothes. Why don't we go look around the market so more? Unless you had sothing to do," Remi said with such a large, piteous look that lina didn't have the heart to say no. Even if she would have preferred to get out of the bustling market and rest.
"Alright, let's look around. Just don't expect to buy any more clothes."
"I won't, promise! I'm already happy that you bought this one. It really looks great on you," Remi said with a satisfied nod.
The two girls wandered around the market for a while, admiring the trinkets, clothes, and produce displayed. Remi seed to be drawn to every clothes and jewelry stall in sight, while lina enjoyed looking at the exotic ingredients imported from outside of Alemahria. One stall even sold so cocoa beans, but their price was far out of lina's budget.
As they continued wandering, they ca across a large open plaza with people gathering around it. A sort of stage was erected in the center of it, and for a mont lina wondered whether there were street perforrs.
"Is that an oven behind that stage?" Remi pointed, and lina stood on her tiptoes trying to see past the people standing in front of her. Much to her surprise, there really was a large bread oven, just as big as the one in Master Gilbert's kitchen. It didn't stop there as on the stage itself stood four kitchen counters each with a set of knives, spoons, and all the cooking utensils one might need.
"Yes. Did they set up a kitchen here?" lina asked.
"There are a bunch of ingredients on the shelves over there," Remi pointed towards the opposite side of the plaza. Fruits, vegetables, flour, sugar, and all sorts of other ingredients sat there while the people curiously cocked their heads, trying to understand what was going on much like lina and Remi.
"Step right up, people of Pertia! Do not be shy, for we're about to have a cooking showdown of the century." A charismatic man, dressed in a fine suit stepped onto the stage, his loud voice carrying itself clearly over the mutterings of the crowd.
"Cooking showdown?" lina and all the other gathered people looked at him in confusion.
"That's right, a cooking showdown, and any one of you may join and get a chance to win this special bundle of rare cooking ingredients." The announcer said and then pulled a large basket stacked to the brim with various ingredients. lina sprained to see over the people in front of her and saw that there were so vanilla beans, cocoa powder as well as oddly shaped pink and purple fruit that seed to… sparkle.
No way, that couldn't be, could it? Feyfruit?
"I wish to join!" A sleek, middle-aged man spoke up from within the crowd, and the people parted around him.
"So eager! I didn't even get the ti to introduce myself," the announcer chuckled but waved the man to step onto the stage. He carried himself with experienced poise and grace, almost like a noble, although his clothing suggested that he wasn't that high on the social ladder. Perhaps a rchant.
"So I'll begin with my introduction. I am Auden Speziale, your humble host for today." The announcer gave a deep, graceful bow, his charismatic disposition no doubt already lting the knees of so won in the crowd. "Now what would your na be?"
"I am Felipe Favreu, the owner of the best bakery in Pertia," the man said proudly, his head held high. Auden applauded and the crowd began applauding with him.
"Wonderful! You'll be our first participant in this competition. As you all see we have four workstations set up here as well as a large oven and all the utensils a baker could dream of. Who else will be brave enough to enter the contest and try to get their hands on these exclusive ingredients?
"lina, maybe you should try?" Remi nudged her gently.
"? I have barely begun my apprenticeship. There's no way I could compete in a cooking competition," lina shook her head.
"Co on, lina, didn't you say you wanted so cocoa powder? It's right there."
She glanced at the basket of rare ingredients. In all honesty, feyfruit put everything else to sha, and lina suspected that many didn't even know what it was. It was a rare fruit growing only in the Monster Realm that can replenish a mage's mana many tis over. How long has it been since lina had seen one? How did they even acquire it?
"I'd like to join too," a corpulent man dressed in simple clothes stepped out of the crowd, a confident smirk on his face. "When it cos to cooking and flavors, then there's nobody who could beat ."
"Love the confidence! Co right here, good sir," Auden said, pointing to a spot on the stage next to Felipe. "What is your na?"
"Curt Mayers. I own the best food stall in Pertia," he announced proudly, his stomach sticking out like a large ball. Felipe snorted at his proclamation.
"A food stall? As if a food stall owner could ever beat my cooking, honed over many years with one of the best masters in all of Alemahria."
"Big words for a little man. We'll see whose food is better—naly mine," Curt retorted, and the chef turned red from anger.
"There, there, let's save that energy for the cooking. Is there anybody else willing to enter?" Auden scanned over the crowd with his eyes, and a shy hand slowly rose. People parted and revealed the ginger-haired freckled girl whom lina t in the Bakers Guild just the other day.
"Co here, young lady. Don't be shy, tell us your na," the announcer beckoned her over. She took shaky steps, clearly feeling uncomfortable, but managed to make her way to the stage.
"I'm…" She replied so quietly that nobody could hear her voice.
"Roxie Beck, everyone, an apprentice from the local Bakers Guild. A truly wonderful addition to our contest. Is there anyone else? We need one more contestant."
"lina, co on! If that little girl can go, then so can you." Remi nudged her more incessantly this ti. lina looked at the cocoa powder and feyfruit again. Oh, how she would love to have it.
"I'd like to enter too!" She said, raising her hand above the crowd.
"Wonderful! Co here and introduce yourself," Auden prompted. lina made her way to the stage and then turned towards the gathered people. It was unnerving being at the center of attention again, her heart began to beat faster from nervousness.
It's alright. I am not an [Archmage] anymore. That life is behind now.
"I am lina Dufour," she announced.
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